CHI03LA128 · Robinson R44
Robinson R44 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water while standing
From Cape Girardeau Regional Airport (CGI) to Lake Ozark, MO (private airstrip)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI03LA128
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Robinson R44
- Aircraft type
- Robinson R44
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N227G
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Cape Girardeau Regional Airport (CGI), Cape Girardeau, MOTo Lake Ozark, MO (private airstrip)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Standing · engine(s) operating
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control on ground/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not possible
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter was substantially damaged shortly after landing when an isolated wind gust, funneled by a ravine, caused the aircraft to become light on its skids. The subsequent weather vaning tendency, due to the tailwind orientation of the gust, resulted in a loss of control. The pilot reported that, shortly after touchdown, "the helicopter started to shake, then jump around and rotate (still on the skids) in a clockwise direction for about 30 degrees." He noted that once the helicopter rotated 30 degrees to the right, "it immediately started violent movements counterclockwise and proceeded to thrash around in all directions." He continued: "It felt as if the tail went up … with a rolling to the left side with a great deal of thrashing around." He noted that the helicopter came to rest back on its skids. The private heliport was adjacent to a wooded ravine. A witness to the accident reported that the helicopter had landed and was on the ground for 15 - 20 seconds when the wind came up from the bottom of the hill and the trees started blowing. He reported the helicopter tilted to the right and the main rotor struck the pavement. The helicopter then rotated to the left prior to coming to rest. The witness noted that the winds appeared to be calm both prior to, and after, the accident. A post-accident examination of the helicopter revealed no anomalies consistent with a pre-accident failure. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Rotorcraft Flying Handbook states: "As an engine turns the main rotor system in a counterclockwise direction, the helicopter fuselage turns clockwise." A tail rotor is often incorporated into helicopter designs in order to counteract this torque-induced turning tendency. The handbook notes that, as a helicopter becomes light on its skids, "torque tends to cause the nose to swing or yaw to the right." With a tailwind, the helicopter is affected by weathercock stability in which the helicopter attempts to weathervane into the wind. In the absence of an opposing pedal input, the helicopter may start an uncommanded turn either to the right or left depending upon the wind direction, according to the handbook.
Probable cause
An inability to maintain control of the helicopter during the wind gust and brief tail wind. The ravine, wind gust and tailwind were contributing factors to the accident.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI03LA128
- Event ID
- 20030520X00704
- Case number
- CHI03LA128
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2003-05-17.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6b4ac84776bc80df95e3206367ccdd1771ff9d2971d0e1821860761d1282c548; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:29:22.231Z.